If music technology has ever made you dream of autonomous musical robots, crawling around the floor making sound like a Juilliard of mechanical insect prodigies, I’ve got great news for you.

While we’re on the subject of DIY electronics, here are some words of encouragement: the designer who made that fantastic drum machine robot making the rounds on the Web says he’s got a day job, and you, too, can do what he did.

Yes, you.

First, check out the autonomous, banging-on-stuff and sampling drummer robot pictured above, if you haven’t seen it yet:

It’s the cute little bot below. And talk about simple: it’s like a battery with wheels.

Neither of these designs is specifically musical, but that might actually be ideal for starting a musical project, since they’re so simple. I also start what you could do with a swarm of these and some internal synth chips. That’s something evidently other people have been thinking of, but with more sophisticated hardware — I’d prefer to do it with something cheap. Stay tuned.